Sony SS-B1000 5 1/8-Inch Bookshelf Speakers (Pair)

Hello friends,

Before you begin to read my review, please understand that I only wrote it because there are so very few reviews currently available about these speakers. Knowing that, here is what I can tell you about them:

First of all, I purchased these speakers for one, and only one, reason. I presently own a very nice Panasonic 27" color (stereo) television. The sound from the internal TV speakers never thrilled me, so I looked into purchasing some better speakers. The first thing I discovered (to my dismay) was that my TV did not have "external speaker" jacks. Okay, so I dropped a few extra bucks ($99.00 to be exact), and I purchased a very nice, 100 watt Sherwood, stereo receiver. Bear in mind now that I am only talking about a "stereo." I am not talking about a surround sound system, a Dolby digital system (5-1, 6-1 or the like), or any other high-tech system. Just plain old, every day, run of the mill stereo!

Now, I really thought that I was home free because I already owned a great pair of Bose bookshelf speakers. Wrong again! The Bose speakers are only "four" ohms, and my new Sherwood receiver called for "eight" ohm speakers. I know that seems to be a minor problem, but the receiver DID run very hot, and numerous reviews regarding the receiver clearly stated that it WOULD overheat using anything less than eight ohm speakers.

After realizing that the reported problem was true, I visited several electronic stores; I listened to numerous bookshelf type speaker systems, and I finally decided on the Sony. Let me tell you my friends, these little babies are absolutely superb! The bass quality absolutely blew-away my $300.00 Bose speakers (regardless of impedance). The sound is crisp, clear, and the typical problems of "no", or "very little" bass, are gone. Don't get me wrong . . . you are NOT going to get 15" bass speaker sound out these, but you WON'T be disappointed. They are truly, in my humble opinion, the very BEST bang for the buck!

My wife, who doesn't give a s**t about audio quality, actually commented on how really nice the TV sounds now, compared to my fancy-dancy Bose speakers. These little speakers deliver sharp, crisp, clear sound, and they seem to easily handle all the power that my Sherwood receiver throws at them. If you want some really nice speakers, with all of the bass that you can realistically expect from a small pair of bookshelf speakers, buy these! In a nutshell . . . they sound GREAT!

I'm the manager of WRNC in Ashland, WI and we've used these speakers as our studio monitors for 2.5 years, almost non-stop. They've never complained or degraded in any way. From time to time we also knock them around as we move them to remote broadcasting locations, and they've survived even this quite nicely.

I recently purchased two pairs of these speakers for use with my home stereo, and they have not disappointed. They may not be the most expensive speakers out there, but they're a vast improvement from the Panasonic speakers I've been using for the last twelve years.

It is probably pointless to add yet another review to this speaker that says "good for the price". Everybody knows that by now. What I have noticed is the few reviews that say the sound is muddy or there is no midrange or highs. (I will discount the complaints about "needing an amplifier")

I will start by mentioning something I have seen in no other review: When I opened the box, there was a notice from Sony taped to the top of the wrappers on the speakers. A warning, actually. It said to be sure to connect the speakers to an amplifier "near" the maximum rating of the speaker. It went on to say that failure to connect them to a "sufficiently powerful" amplifier would result in tweeter burnout.

So, the question is: What is "sufficiently powerful"?

I will spare you the boring details of my research, and give you the bottom line. Do not connect these to an amplifier of less than 40 Watts RMS per channel. At 40 Watts and up, you are pretty much safe no matter how much you crank it. Below that, you risk clipping the waveform going to the tweeter. The clipping will distort the sound and apply what amounts to a straight DC voltage to the tweeter voice coil. This voltage heats the wiring until it melts the lacquer coating on the wire and shorts out the tweeter. (maybe more than you needed to know)

The tweeters use a large amount of the power in, and handle the upper midrange as well as the highs. Severe clipping and/or burnout would result in weakened midrange, no highs, muddy sound.

Not exactly a review, I guess, but maybe it will help some buyers decide whether they want to try these or not.

If you are curious, I have these hooked to an amplifier putting out 105 Watts per channel. Plenty of reserve power, achingly clear and bright highs. Bass is barely adequate, but OK for most stuff I play. You can always mess with tone controls, but turning up the bass doesn't boost the bass so much as richen the lower midrange which is carried by the woofer (also, turning the bass up too much results in a "boxy" sound). Voices are quite clear. I could use better speakers, but these will do until I get around to upgrading. It could be a while.

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